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The Road to Non‐Enzymatic Molecular Networks
Author(s) -
Dadon Zehavit,
Wagner Nathaniel,
Ashkenasy Gonen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200702552
Subject(s) - computer science , autocatalysis , synthetic biology , network topology , computational biology , topology (electrical circuits) , molecular communication , distributed computing , biological system , biology , catalysis , engineering , biochemistry , computer network , channel (broadcasting) , transmitter , electrical engineering
This Minireview gives an overview of recent progress in the design and analysis of chemical systems that utilize template‐directed autocatalytic and cross‐catalytic processes as a means of wiring dynamically interacting molecules. Synthetic networks comprising two to nine replicating species are discussed. It is shown that for larger systems, more catalytic pathways must be manipulated to control the entire network topology and specific functionality of the individual species or subnetworks. Cellular biochemistry is an example of a natural functional molecular network; synthetic self‐organized networks can provide additional models of complex systems.